MINNEAPOLIS -- The first two games of this week’s series at Target Field couldn’t have gone much better for the Yankees. They won both handily, and on Monday Aaron Judge hit his first home run since returning from the IL on Sept. 8.
But you can’t blame Yankees fans for holding their collective breath after Judge was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the sixth inning of Wednesday’s game, which the Yankees lost, 5-4, in 13 innings.
Judge, who sat out Tuesday’s game as a routine day off after playing six straight games, struck out in each of his first two at-bats against Twins starter Zebby Matthews on Wednesday. After the game, he said he felt a stiffness in his lower right leg in the first inning.
“I tried to kind of play it off and see how long we could go, because these games are important down the stretch,” Judge said. “But kind of talking it over, I thought it'd be the right move to come out, so I don't cost the team on the field or cost the team on the basepath.”
With an off-day scheduled for Thursday, the team will wait to issue any prognosis on the severity of the injury until after he’s received extensive treatment over the next 48 hours.
“We’re not going to speculate one way or the other. We’ll just see how he responds,” manager Aaron Boone said.
Judge, who said he didn’t anticipate getting testing done, said he couldn’t pinpoint any specific activity or movement that triggered the stiffness, but the feeling isn’t an unfamiliar one to him.
“I feel like you deal with this every Spring Training. You know, usually at the start of the season once you start ramping up again, things pop up, and that's where we've been,” Judge said. “Thankfully, this whole time coming back, nothing's really nagged us. So hopefully it's just one little thing and then we're back out there soon.”
It would be a huge blow to the team to lose Judge after just getting him back into the lineup for the first time in three months. But at the same time, professional athletes and their coaches have to keep an eye on the big picture, and one Wednesday afternoon game against the Twins in mid-September pales in importance compared to upcoming series against the Diamondbacks, Rays and Orioles, plus whatever postseason action the team might see.
That’s especially true when that four-game series against Tampa Bay starting Tuesday could still determine the AL East champions -- and potentially a first-round bye in the postseason.
“Obviously he’s a key figure of what we do,” Boone said. “Hopefully we get it treated and knock it out and be a factor at some point.”
Heliot Ramos pinch-hit for Judge and also struck out against Matthews, who fanned eight in six scoreless innings. Ramos would likely fill in for Judge in right field during any absence he might incur.
The Yankees certainly could have used Judge’s bat in the lineup as they traded blows with the Twins in extra innings, after Anthony Volpe smacked a game-tying double off the wall in the top of the ninth with his club down to its final out.
In the 12th, the Yanks squandered an opportunity with the bases loaded and nobody out, as Ramos grounded into a double play, with Volpe thrown out at home plate. Ali Sánchez then struck out to end the threat, before Twins pinch-hitter Victor Caratini delivered a walk-off single up the middle in the 13th.